Fire-escape



(No Model.)

H. DB. CUTLER.

I FIRE'ESUAPE. No; 283,702. Patented Aug. 21, 1883.

MP L w WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

- I 2 %ZI%%WV I ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Hmibl'rlhognplwn Walhing'on. D c

UNITED STATES.

PATENT Fries.

, HORACE DB. CUTLER, OF GLENWOOD, MISSOURI.

Fl RE-ESCAPEL sr'ncIrIoArIon forming part of Letters Patent are. 288,702, dated August 21, 1883.

Application filed May 2,1883. (No model.)

To all whom) it may concern:

Be it known that I, Honaon DB. CUTLER, of Glenwood, in the county of Schuyler and State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Fire-Escape, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Myinvention consists of a broad leather belt for buckling around the chest of a person below the arms, having a breast-plate of metal and a metal backing thereto, to which hooks are attached suitably for connecting to a cord, and being supported so as to cause the cord to traverse the plate by a devious or sinnous course calculated to produce the necessary friction to insure safe, descent for a person attached to the belt, the hooks being so adjusted that the connection may be readily made to the cord. without reeving through them, as is required for eye-studs, and so that the tension of the cord tends to insure its retention on the hooks, making a very simple and efficient portable escape, all as hereinafter fully described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a front elevation of my improved fire-escape in perspective view. Fi g. 2 is a front elevation of the breastplate, and Fig. 3 is a section of Fig. 2 on line x e.

To a strong band. of leather, (1., adapted to Y buckle around the chest of a person, and being preferably widened at the breast, I attach a metal plate, I), to the front side, at the middle, of the part of the band that crosses the breast, and also attach a corresponding plate, 0. at the back, riveting them together through the leather strap to form substantial support for asystem of books, (I, to be securely fastened to the plates by inserting the shanks f in holes bored through the plates and heading them downsubstantially, in which hooks the cord 9 is to be strung in the sinuous course indicated in the drawings, so that it draws across the shanks of the hooks in a manner to prevented vent the escape of the cord from their open sides, so that the device will be effectually prepending a person in the act of escape. In practice I intend to provide the lower hook with a snap-spring as further security from disconnection with the rope, and, if desired, all the hooks may have such springs. In this case the upper andlower hooks are located at the vertical center of the breast-plate, and the intermediate hooks at the edges, all the hooks being placed about the same distance apart vertically, which distance will, in practice, be governed by the angles that it is requisite the cord shall make in order to produce the proper amount of friction for the safe descent of the person using the escape.

For different measures or degrees of friction the hooks may be set for different angles of the cord.

Having thus described any invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a fire-escape, of the belt a, plates Z) c, hooks d, and the cord 9!, the cord being strung in the angular course through the hooks, as described. A

2. A fire escape consisting of the belt to be buckled to the body of the person, and the cord strung in an angular course through hooks attached to the belt, the said hooks arranged on the belt for the cord to draw against the shanks of the hooks, substantially as described.

from escaping from the rope while sus- 3. In a fire-escape, consisting of the belt to be buckled to the body of the person, hooks attached to said belt, and a cord strung through the hooks, the front plate, I), and back plate, 0, combined with the belt and the hooks for connecting and supporting said hooks, substantially as described.

. HORACE 1) B. CUTLER.

\Vitnesses:

WM. LOGAN, H. A. J onus. 

